Page 71 of Refuge for Cherilyn

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Cherilyn droveup to the house and around the back to bring everything inside. “Girls! I’m here! Come help me get the groceries in!” She stepped back out the door toward the car. That was when she heard it. It was a distinct popping sound, something she’d never heard before, and it was close. There was a quality to it that made the hair rise on her arms, and she headed back to the house to find Candace and Maya standing in the kitchen, their faces pale. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Dad told us to get in the house, lock the doors, and not go out. He went looking for you. I called Gran, but she said you hadn’t been there, so I don’t know?”

“Get in the back bedroom. Now. Don’t talk. Just go.” Cherilyn locked the knob and the deadbolt on the back door, then turned off the kitchen light. She checked the front door, then snapped the light off in the living room too. Turning off lights as she went, she made her way to the back bedroom, then ran to their bedroom, grabbed the shotgun and a box of shells, and headed into the back bedroom again. Once that door was closed and locked, she turned off the light. “Get down behind the bed,” she hissed. When they were all in place, she shoved two shells into the old double-barrel and waited.

It was silent. Even Lara was quiet as a church mouse. The four females waited, and then they heard it?the sound of footsteps. As the steps moved away from the bedrooms and headed toward the front of the house, Candace whispered, “Where are your car keys?”

Cherilyn was frantic. “What?”

“Car keys.”

“Why?”

“Where are they?” Candace whispered again.

“On top of the washer.” Why was she asking?

Before Cherilyn could stop her, Candace bolted. She threw open the bedroom door and ran, and it took everything Cherilyn had to keep Lara still and quiet while Maya clutched her mother’s arm until Cherilyn was pretty sure she was losing circulation. She could hear Candace’s feet pounding through the house and out the back door, and the sound of another set of feet almost instantly behind her. Gravel crunched in the drive, followed by a lot of swearing and a sound she couldn’t initially identify. Then it hit her.

It was a dirt bike.

She listened as the sounds of the car and the bike faded, and she lay there with the girls, waiting. The house was quiet again, and she could feel tears pouring down her face. What was happening? What the hell had Candace done?

In a few minutes, there was the sound of another vehicle, and they waited, terrified. She heard someone come up the front porch steps, and then the footsteps disappeared. In a few seconds, she heard them again at the back, and without a sound of a door opening, she was sure it had been left open. They were going to die. There was no doubt in her mind. All she could hope for was that he’d let the girls go and just take her.

In a few moments that felt like months, the footsteps came closer, and they headed into the master bedroom. Lying there, waiting for what seemed inevitable, the light snapped on across the hallway in the bigger room. Through the open door and from under the dust ruffle on the bed, she could see into the hallway, and what she saw made her heart almost stop.

It was Shaw’s boot.

Cherilyn’s voice was nothing but a breath. “Shaw?”

The click of the switch let the ceiling light illuminate the whole room where they hid and in an instant, he was on his knees, drawing her up to him. “Baby! What the hell happened? Are you okay? The girls, are they okay?”

“Oh, god, Shaw! Oh, god, there was somebody in here! And, and, and?”

“Cheri, where’s Candace?”

“Oh, god, Shaw, she’s gone! She grabbed my keys and ran! I think he followed her! Oh, god, what are we going to do?”

Shaw ran and she followed him as he headed out the door and toward his truck. He threw the door open and grabbed the mic on his radio. “Central dispatch, this is KDFWR unit two ninety-one, requesting immediate assistance. Requesting an all-points on CandaceHarrison, age fifteen, driving a white late-model Chevy Impala, Whitley County plates. Being pursued by person of interest WarrenTalbot, wanted for the murders of LynneRedfield and more in several other states. Request medical and law enforcement to my residence, eighty-three ninety-five Kimball Lane, officer deceased. This suspect is armed and dangerous.” He turned to Cherilyn. “What was he driving?”

“Sounded like a dirt bike.”

“Suspect may be traveling on a dirt bike. Repeat, requesting immediate assistance.” His phone rang instantly. “Harrison.”

“What the fuck is going on?”

“That detail in front of my house? He’s dead. Talbot shot him. He came into my house and Candace lured him out. She’s out there somewhere in Cherilyn’s car, and he’s in pursuit. Aaron, please, god, help me. Please?”

“On it, bud. Cruz and Dax have been here for less than an hour, and Cruz has already got the Louisville field office mobilized. They’re on their way, and so are all the teams between here and Lexington. Carly’s calling everybody in. We’ll find her, Shaw, I promise. We’ll find her.”

Static on the radio caught his attention. “Central dispatch, this is Whitley County unit one twenty-five. I have eyes on a white Chevy Impala traveling at a high rate of speed on Ashland Pike. Repeat, white Chevy Impala traveling at a high rate of speed on Ashland Pike. Small Suzuki bike following at close distance. Advise, over.”

“Whitley County unit one twenty-five, this is central dispatch patching in FBI Agent Cruz Livingston.”

Cruz’s deep Texas drawl filled the airwaves, and Shaw had never been so glad to hear a voice in his life. “Whitley County unit one twenty-five, FBI Agent Cruz Livingston. Be advised suspect is armed and dangerous. Is SheriffMcEvers monitoring this channel?”

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